This invention relates to metal composites in such forms as sheet, plate, tube or roll which serves as hollow shells, for transporting or containing material as coverings, walls, armor, self-sealing casings and reinforcement elements for cloth layers, paper layers and plastic material, all of various shape, sizes and thicknesses.
There is considerable need in the industrial field for a composite or "made up structure" of metal, as distinguished from solid metal, which has a hard and wear resistant surface, resists impact, and still retains the inherent advantage of light weight. From a design and structural standpoint, the composite must have a high strength to weight ratio, substantial resistance to compression forces and bullet impact and, in certain forms, can be flexed or bent to shape. Metallurgically, such materials as the mar-aging and alloy steels, precipitation hardened stainless steels and various titanium alloys have been found suitable as they possess the necessary physical and mechanical properties. However, heretofore the prior art has been unable to get these materials to respond to the wire drawing and meshing contemplated herein, without adversely affecting or weakening the wires.
With this limitation, the prior art had to content itself in the production of screen meshing with the less exotic materials. However, from the discussion to follow, it will be evident that the present invention has found a way to overcome the limitation so as to yield a composite structure not known in the prior art.